Asiatique: Food, Shopping & Carnival

Asiatique was one of the places our hosts said was a “must see” while in Bangkok. Since I had seen it listed, repeatedly, on tourism websites and travel books, I was hardly going to argue. But I did have to ask, “What exactly is Asiatique?” Because while site after site listed it as something you need to see, the descriptions were muddled to me.

Well, there’s shopping. Lots of shopping. Some of it is individual vendors in flea market types of booths. I bought one tunic style top, and a crocheted fancy jacket thing where the guy lamented how his wife had “made everything in his booth by hand!” to convince me to pay more for it. I’m not a haggler by nature, but I stuck to my guns after being repeatedly reassured this was how it worked, and did eventually prevail with a discount.

Inside shopping stalls in Asiatique, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Outside shopping booths in Asiatique.

Outside shopping street in Asiatique

Some shops are more mainstream, chain-like stores, while yet others are dedicated to one theme. Like, really, really dedicated:

Hello Kitty Shop in Asiatique

I don’t even know what to say about this… I’m hoping it means something besides what it would mean here.

I’m sure this means something else… I hope.

There’s a huge, just shy of 200 feet high, ferris wheel. There are 42 individual gondolas on the wheel, and they each hold up to about 8 people.

Outside street scene from Asiatique

Mekhong Ferris Wheel in Asiatique

This is our six at the head of the line to get on:

Asiatique Mekhong Ferris Wheel group selfie

The view from the top really is amazing, and it’s worth the ride just for that. A beautiful view of the city and the Chao Phraya river.

View from Mekhong Ferris Wheel in Asiatique

There are also a number of sit-down restaurants and bars, but more exciting are the food booths. I’m really bummed my photos of the sauteed beetles and what looked like grasshoppers didn’t turn out, but here’s a sampling of the rest:

Some of the foodie delicacies in Asiatique food booths

A bit more identifiable foodie treats in Asiatique food booths

Asiatique food booths

Asiatique food booths

Our kids also had fun on a couple of carnival type rides. Sort of bumper cars meets two-wheeled hover board that seats two. And the guys running the ride would come around and flip the cars over on their backs occasionally, so the riders were suddenly just staring at sky.

We walked and ate and rode and shopped, and by the time we were done, we were in stimulus overload. It was time to go home and relax.

Well, maybe one more stop… (We may have eaten an unhealthy amount of ice cream on this trip.)